Ocean, nature, critters, and recreation

Jul 13, 2011

Decorah bald eagle chick is fitted with GPS transmitter

One of three world-famous bald eaglets from a treetop nest in Decorah, Iowa, on Tuesday was banded and fitted with a GPS transmitter that could enable scientists to track its whereabouts for years to come (see the female bird's post-banding release in the video).

Millions of people became enamored with the eaglets and their doting parents, thanks to a high-definition web-cam that spied on them day and night since the chicks emerged from their eggs as in early April.

Now they're as large as their parents, and although they've made their maiden flights they're remaining near the nest and still accepting food from the adult eagles.

Experts with the Raptor Resource Project maintained the web-cam -- and will do so again next season, when new eggs are laid -- as the eaglets and their parents became perhaps the most-scrutinized wild critters on the planet.

Based on the success of Tuesday's operation, project scientists are considering banding and attaching GPS transmitters to all three eaglets "to help us determine where they go and whether or not they survive," reads a statement on the RRP Facebook page.

Realizing that folks have become fond of the eaglets and are concerned about whether the banding might affect their chances of surviving in the wild, the RRP statement added that project manager Bob Anderson thoroughly researched the issue "and was not able to find any evidence that banding affected the survivability or reproductive success of eagles -- a finding supported by our own years of banding young falcons."

Elsewhere in the statement is this passage: "We understand that people are concerned about the eagles and our motivation for banding. However, at our core, we have always been about science, conservation, and education. Banding the eaglet will not harm it and will aid the service of all three areas."

In a recent interview with Pete Thomas Outdoors, Anderson said placing a transmitter on at least one eaglet will allow fans of the birds as well as biologists to track its progress.

"Every day we'll be able to tell the world that this bird is in Missouri, Mississippi or Des Moines," Anderson said. "We will have a website that will follow this bird for years to come. The most common question I get is, 'What happens to the babies,' so we're going to try to answer that question."

The RRP will soon provide a link on its Facebook page that will allow viewers to track the newly-banded eaglet's movements via Google maps.

When I saw a close up cam of the eagle with the transmitter and antenna on her back, I was so upset I couldn't sleep that night.
It is cruel and needless torture for the bird. Is she expected to live 30 years with that thing on her back?

There are actually two transmitters. One is a satellite transmitter that sends data up to ARGOS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argos_System. ARGOS receives information and sends GPS coordinates back to us, although they aren't accurate to within feet. Generally ARGOS provides degrees to within hundreds of feet, which can be quite a distance in thick brush.

The short-range system uses a directional antenna that allows Bob to find the eagle. So the satellite transmitter tells him that the eagle is out near, say, Calmar (a nearby town). Bob can drive out to the area that ARGOS identifies and use the short-range transmitter to actually find the eagle.

The combination transmitter is surprisingly light. Years ago, we trapped an osprey and removed a non-functioning backpack transmitter. This is much, much lighter.

The RRP-Decorah nest has brought people together from all over the world. With the help of Bob Anderson, beloved Mods and all the volunteers, a course in Raptor 101 has been illustrated. Answers that only heaven could give,like what goes on in the nest high above the trees. How did the parents interact and protect their young have been truly revealed. We all are wonderful stewards of nature,proven just by the interest thru Facebook and donations to the RRP.....